I’ve been reminiscing about my life this time last year for the past few months. I was in Japan with my friend after taking 10 days off from university so I could travel while I was studying in Korea. I decided to visit Japan because it was right next to Korea and it was one of the best times of my life! Japan was unlike any other place I’ve been to and it’s true what they say…the Japanese really do live in 3020 while the rest of us are in 2020. Here’s an extremely short summary of my trip to Japan:

Days 1-3: Tokyo

I was shocked getting off the plane in Tokyo because of the diversity of people I saw at the airport. For some reason, I assumed it would be like Seoul where people are mainly Korean and even the foreigners look pretty homogenous. However, in Tokyo there was a mix of everyone which was like a breath of fresh air for me since that’s what I’m accustomed to in Vancouver and I had been lacking that in Seoul for the past two months.

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Tokyo was my favourite of the three cities I visited because of its ‘big city’ vibe and the overall experiences I had. Whether it was midnight photoshoots outside of our hostel, meeting strangers who bought us dinner and breakfast for the next morning, visiting the beautiful Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, or wandering around various districts like Akihabara, Asakusa, Shinjuku, and Harajuku, there was something special about Tokyo that makes me desperately want to revisit. I would definitely go back but with more money saved up because everything was quite expensive, especially compared to Seoul.

Days 3-6: Osaka

Osaka would be my second favourite city because of the district I lived in (Dotonbori) which was a super popular touristy area and had everything there! Theatres, shopping malls, restaurants, food stalls, arcades, everything! Our first night there we went to watch Avengers: Endgame in theatres and it was deathly silent so it was incredibly difficult for me to conceal my sobs. On the way back to our hostel, I went to an arcade for the first time which was a lot of fun!

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Osaka is known for its food and I have no shame in admitting I ate way too much (street food) there. In fact, I barely bought anything during my entire ten days besides food. Speaking of which, 711 was my go-to for breakfast, snacks, and drinks throughout the day. A salmon rice roll, grilled sweet potatoes, and at least two bottles of milk tea were always with me. In terms of the places we visited, my highlights from Osaka were Osaka Castle, Dotonbori district, the Tempozan Ferris Wheel and its surrounding harbour village.

Days 6-9: Kyoto

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Kyoto was completely different from both Tokyo and Osaka. It wasn’t as populous, the city was more quaint, and there wasn’t as much of an urban vibe. The main thing to do was explore the various temples and shrines throughout the city, of which we only visited one because they all had an entrance fee and were quite far from our hostel. We mostly walked around the city and explored the markets as well as the infamous Gion geisha district which is where we encountered the most tourists in Kyoto.

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Biking was a big thing there so we rented bikes during our last day and used those to get around Kyoto and explore all the places we hadn’t seen yet. If I had to choose one part of my trip as being the most memorable it would be our bike ride because it was absolute hell. We started off when the sun was shining and there was a good amount of wind and over the course of the day it started getting cloudier until there was an eventual downpour when we were in the middle of nowhere without any umbrellas or rain friendly attire. We had no choice but to bike back to our hostel in the crazy rain because there was nowhere to take shelter until the rain stopped. By the time we found a 711 we were soaked to the bone and shivering so we ended up buying hot ramen and eating it in the store while waiting for the rain to stop. That was a few hours of pure panic and cold.

Day 10: Tokyo

My last day was a blur because I was so exhausted from the constant travelling and moving from city to city and hostel to hostel that I just wanted to stay in bed and not do anything at all but I also didn’t want to waste my last day before heading back to Seoul. Eventually, my friend and I went last-minute souvenir shopping and exploring Akihabara. I also saw real-life Mario Kart racing on the streets which was awesome and kind of surreal because what????? I could never imagine seeing that in Vancouver!

After these fleeting ten days, I returned to Seoul before taking another few days off to visit Jeju Island, but that’s another story for another time. Overall, Japan was an amazing country to visit and I’ll definitely return one day because ten days isn’t nearly enough to explore it.